1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to agricultural harvesters, and, more particularly, to unloading arrangements used to unload crop from a harvester and transport the crop to another location.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semi-autonomous systems may be used in the agricultural and industrial sectors to provide increased efficiencies when using work vehicles such as tractors, combines, etc. Such systems typically use geospatial data associated with the vehicle (such as GPS data) to automatically guide the vehicle through a certain area such as a field, work site, etc. These systems are designated “semi-autonomous” in the sense that an operator is still present within the operator cab, and may take over manual operation of the vehicle when necessary.
The advent of semi-autonomous systems has reduced the skill required and reliability of unloading on-the-go operations in conventional manners. However, there are still instances where these systems do not handle certain use cases or where these systems could be leveraged for greater efficiencies and functionality.
Large Harvester Headers: As combine headers become larger, they extend laterally further from each side of the harvester. This in turn pushes the lateral location of the transport vehicle further and further away from the harvester. The design of exceedingly longer unloading tubes are required to allow unloading of harvesters to adjacent vehicles. These long unload tubes are costly and make operation, transportation and storage of machines difficult. If there were a way to eliminate the need for the long unload tubes, the manufacturer and operator would both benefit.
Breaking Through a “Land”: In high yielding crops (such as corn), harvesters often have to ‘break through’ areas where there is crop on both sides of the harvester, preventing unloading operations. In given instances, the harvester will need to unload by running down crop leading to crop lost.
Sugar Cane Harvester Operations: There are special cases where loading wagons alternate between being driven in reverse and forward during the unloading process to increase the speed of transitioning and reduce crop damage by limiting amount of cane stubble driven on. Without having an ability to operate in reverse, the semi-autonomous systems will not meet this use case need.
What is needed in the art is a way of unloading a crop from a harvester under nearly all use conditions.